In response to the opinion post yesterday, Annapolis PIO, Phill McGowan has offered the following explanation of how the budget increased by 23%.

Two of the big ticket items include:

Changing the way the money is handled accounting for $8 million

Employing an unknown number of city employees will cost an additional $4.5 million ($7500 per employee based on 600 employees) due to increased health insurance costs, liability insurance, and fuel.

On March 24, 2011, we contacted City Hall and asked how many employees and contractors were on the payroll in February 2010 when the Mayor took office, July 2010 when the layoffs had been complete, and March 2011 current number. To date, the City has been unable to provide these numbers o we have no confirmation of the exact number of people employed by the City.

John is the publisher and editor of Eye On Annapolis. As a resident and business owner in Anne Arundel County for more than 15 years, he realized that there was something missing in terms of community news--and Eye On Annapolis was born in late spring 2009.
John's background is in the travel industry as a business owner, industry speaker, and travel writer. In terms of blogging and social media, he cut his teeth with MSNBC.com.